Do terms like user scenarios, path analysis and funnel conversions scare you from using web analytics?  Are you not sure whether you’re looking at website statistical data or a screen your two year old smashed on the keyboard to make?

Don’t underestimate the power (or simplicity) of basic web analytics!  You don’t need to be an expert to make good use of some of the basic reporting in any web analytics package.  And it can lead to some dramatic results without much effort at all.  It’s the old adage “crawl before you walk and walk before you run.”  The same applies to web analytics.  So start crawling with some of the basics of web analytics.

I typically discuss three key areas with customers.  I won’t go too deep into the first and second, but the third is the crux of this posting.

First, you need to understand your goals. Some people call them Key Performance Metrics (KPM) or Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Let’s keep it simple and call it your “goals”. What behavior are you trying to drive with your visitors? e.g., make a purchase, fill out a contact form, pick up the phone and call, etc. Make sure to create goals that push the envelope but are still attainable.

Second, setup your content to drive that behavior. Obviously this is easier said than done, but don’t worry about making things perfect.  That’s why you have analytics — it’ll tell you how well it’s doing and you can always change it. Think about nomenclature for navigation items, page titles, images and highlights, and how they relate to driving the goals you set out. There are a lot of good resources for helping with what is called “Information Architecture”.

Third, and the heart of this posting, use basic web analytics to measure visitor behavior to understand how you are doing and more importantly how to change things to drive improved results.

Here are some simple reports that everyone should look at (and every web analytics package contains):

• Unique Page Views: Total amount of times a page was read by unique visitors. So if John Smith views the same page four times, it only counts once as a unique visitor. This will tell you what content is getting the most air time. Start to ask yourself why and if this is the behavior I am trying to drive to achieve my goals. If it is, great. Follow that trend to make sure it doesn’t change. If it’s not, start to look at the relevance and brevity of the content. Are you hitting key points immediately to drive the right behavior?
• Single Page Visits: Visitors came from an external site (e.g., search engine or typing directly in the browser), landed on that one page and left. Sometimes this is fine like in the case of a landing page from a search engine where they can fill out a contact form and leave. More often than not this indicates a user was confused by the content or not expecting what they saw. So review those common single page visits to understand how they got there and what would cause them to be confused. Refine content as necessary. Change navigation names to be more meaningful. Add more imagery and fewer words perhaps. If you are working with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) then do the keywords match the information on the landing page where people come when they click in the search engine?
• Top Exit Pages: This is what people were looking at just before they left your site. In some cases it makes sense as in a thank you form for submitting their information. That’s a natural place to leave a site from. If it’s on the product index page, you have a problem. Again, understand where people are leaving and figure out why. Is your content too wordy? Do you have way too many links and people don’t know where to go? You should modify your content accordingly.

These are three reports that anyone can understand and begin using within 15 minutes that will significantly help drive better website performance. And you can spend less than an hour a week and see dramatic improvements.

At the end of the day it’s about using content to drive behavior, using analytics to measure the effectiveness of content and then using a Content Management System (CMS) to maintain the content that drives behavior. Continually monitor and manage that cycle.

There are no more excuses for not using web analytics!